2018 TOP COMPANY AWARDS: Winners and finalists in 14 industries shine in 31st annual competition.

• Author: Romig, Suzie

As the Top Company Awards program celebrates its 31st year and we unveil another inspiring cast of winners and finalists, it's worth recapping what goes into the process of identifying a ColoradoBiz Top Company.

In a state teeming with outstanding businesses of all sizes, how do we determine the very best in 14 industries?

It starts with companies submitting nominations online at coloradobiz.com throughout the year, detailing their notable achievements, challenges surmounted, financial performance (to be shared only among judges), and community engagement.

As in years past, Deloitte--one of four presenting sponsors along with Moye White, Versatility and Colorado State Bank and Trust--then narrowed the nominees to three finalists in each category. From there, a judging panel made up of ColoradoBiz editorial staffers and business leaders dissected, discussed and sometimes argued the merits of each finalist, selecting the winners based on three aforementioned criteria: outstanding achievement, financial performance and community involvement.

Judging the Top Company entrants is a privilege and responsibility all involved take seriously, knowing the award's long and proud history of recognizing the best in Colorado business. The winners and finalists you'll read about on the following pages are the cream of the crop, but all businesses that took part in the competition deserve congratulations merely for undertaking the rigorous application process and vying for Top Company distinction.

- Mike Taylor, Editor

TOP COMPANY

ARCHITECTURE / INTERIOR DESIGN

WINNER

Davis Partnership Architects | Denver

davispartnership.com

After more than a half century of design work, this firm has helped shape the look, feel and well-being of greater Denver.

The comprehensive architecture firm with 181 employees is committed to promoting high-performing and responsible buildings that are efficient and healthy. The company has completed more than 60 LEED-certified buildings of various types and sizes. The Colorado Health Foundation headquarters project completed in December 2016 was the first building in the U.S. to achieve both LEED version 4 Gold and WELL Gold certifications. The employees practice what they preach: Their own headquarters building is LEED Gold certified.

"A testimony to the outstanding level of service and performance we offer, our exceptional rate of 92 percent repeat clients in the past five years is the key to 51 years of stability and profitability," firm principal Ann Adams says.

The company gives back locally through its Community Outreach Task Force that organizes staff participation in one volunteer opportunity each month. The staff raised nearly $60,000 and assisted 85 nonprofits last year. Employees volunteered a combined 3,000 hours in 2017, far surpassing the company's "5.0 challenge" issued to each employee to volunteer five hours of time during the firm's 50th anniversary.

The diversity of the practice cements its success with work in design, master planning, landscape architecture, interior and lighting design, and environmental signage. The company's expertise lies in commercial, mixed-used, health care, higher education, residential and cultural facilities.

ARCHITECTURE / INTERIOR DESIGN

FINALISTS

TRIO Environments | Denver

trioenvironments.com

Founder Angela Harris, who earned a master's degree in sustainable design, started TRIO Environments full-service interior design and visual merchandising firm in 1999. The growing company strives to deliver better design and merchandise at a lower cost in a shorter timeframe.

The bread-and-butter work is designing and furnishing model homes for builders as well as clubhouses and sales centers in muiti-family complexes and master-planned communities. The 24 full-time employees stay busy managing some 76 projects at a time.

TRIO Environments donates 3 percent of revenue to scholarship and educational outreach charities and helped build a school classroom on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas this year. Every quarter, employees receive a "wellness box" with items such as fitness class gift certificates. Each year, one employee is awarded a vacation with a service component.

ELEMENTS | Denver

workplaceelements.com

This 10-year-old company takes the dread out of a big office move, interior redecoration or reorganization, allowing companies to focus on business at hand.

With 108 full-time employees, ELEMENTS takes workspaces from concept to occupancy. Services include furniture planning, project and move management, installation, inventory management, and product reconfiguration, maintenance and repair.

The company started as a commercial furniture dealership, and now its 32,000-square-foot Discovery Center showroom in LoDo is an impressive place to view office pieces in real-life settings from 50 manufacturers.

The company's flat organizational structure encourages leadership from every employee. Team members donate their time to organizations such as USO food and toy drives, Denver Children's Home and Warming Hearts and Hands.

ADVERTISING / MARKETING

WINNER

Karsh Hagan | Denver

karshhagan.com

With their love of big ideas, Phil Karsh and Tom Hagan co-founded their namesake company in 1977 to provide multi-disciplined marketing, design and technology services.

Some of the company's well-known and long-term clients include Denver International Airport, Aspen Snowmass resort, Colorado Tourism with the successful "Come to Life" campaign, as well as a 25-year collaboration with Visit Denver.

"In our 41-year existence in Denver, we have helped hundreds of Colorado businesses grow and prosper by providing them marketing big ideas," says Pocky Marranzino, who serves as co-CEO with Kathy Hagan Brown, co-founder Tom Hagan's daughter.

With 62 full-time employees, the Colorado powerhouse in advertising embraces a strong purpose: "To help our clients find a deeper meaning about their brand that redefines how they interact with the world in a positive way."

The full-service agency creates TV campaigns, annual reports, packaging and social videos and is delving into digital work such as new mobile apps and conversational interfaces with smart speakers.

Karsh Hagan gives back to the community with more than $250,000 in agency time donated last year. The Karsh Hagan Cares program gives every employee a paid day off to volunteer with groups such as Metro Caring hunger prevention and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. The firm has hosted minority student interns from the University of Colorado for 25 years to help bring more cultural diversity to advertising.

Through the past four years the company continued to grow steadily in employees and revenue. An outline of future business goals ends with "make Denver and Colorado proud."

ADVERTISING / MARKETING

FINALISTS

Denver Westword | Denver

westword.com

A free alternative weekly news publication in print for 41 years with 47 current full-time employees has got to be doing a lot of things right and satisfying many diverse advertising clients.

Denver Westword rolled with the print punches with the 2013 creation of a digital advertising agency dubbed V Digital Services, which helped grow company revenue by 3 percent last year. This fast-growing division served by 15 employees specializes in helping local businesses--including many long-time advertisers in Westword- improve online performance.

Keeping with the independent and entertaining vibe, Westword employees enjoy a fun work environment with beer on Fridays, games in the office and tickets to concerts and festivals. On the serious side, Westword supports some 13 charitable programs through in-kind advertising and donation of funds and volunteers.

Mantooth Marketing Co. | Fort Collins

mantoothcompany.com

This Northern Colorado company with its 90 percent female workforce focuses on building relationships and helping small, family-owned businesses and nonprofits thrive in the local economy.

The name Mantooth means "strong lead" in the Cherokee language, and the firm's message to clients is, "Tell us what we can do to make your life easier."

Founded in 1995, the company with a staff of 12 provides advertising, public relations, digital marketing, branding and events services, even producing their own Lagoon Summer Concert Series for more than two decades on the Colorado State University campus. The firm serves clients with causes including Pathways Hospice, ChildSafe and Fort Collins Habitat for Humanity. Multiple Mantooth employees also serve on the boards of local nonprofits.

CONSTRUCTION /ENGINEERING

WINNER

HomeSphere | Lakewood

homesphere.com

This innovative company facilitates digital marketplace connections between homebuilders and product manufacturers in the construction industry.

After 19 years in business, HomeSphere offers a user-centric, fully interactive web portal that is free and used by more than 2,400 builders across the U.S. reporting on more than 300,000 residential projects per year. Manufacturers use the company's fee-based service to market more than 80 brands of building products from foundations to finishes. Builders earn incentives and rebates while manufacturers analyze builder data to better understand market performance.

"We have integrated a winning combination of our unique data, highly effective programs, experienced people in major construction markets, and the newest technology to better serve the residential homebuilding community," CEO Glenn Renner says.

The 53 full-time employees include IT and customer service reps as well as 20 regional market specialists working with builders and distributors.

For a decade, HomeSphere partnered with Rebuilding Together Metro Denver to make safe and healthy homes available for lowincome residents. Since 2016, HomeSphere's charitable efforts have focused on the nonprofit Homes For Our Troops, which builds and donates specially adapted custom homes for severely injured post-9/11 veterans. HomeSphere...